An overview of evaluation theories
| Author | Michael Scriven |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0100100207 |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Opinion |
27
An overview of
evaluation theories
OPINION
Michael Scriven Evaluators play many roles, and, like actors, sometimes fall into the trap of
thinking that those roles define reality. There are half a dozen cases in the history of
evaluation where it seems to me that this has happened.
Scriven – Opinion
1In the early days of program evaluation theory, managers or funders were
commissioning evaluations, to assist them in their role as decision-
makers, and that led some evaluators to think that it was the essential
nature of evaluation to be a
decision support
process. And the decisions
to be supported were the typical manager/funder decisions about
whether the program should be refunded/cut/abandoned. These were
controlled by the managerial definition of success – i.e., was the program
on time, on target, and on budget – so those were the data to be
gathered. Indeed, these data could be used for both formative and
summative purposes. Discrepancy evaluation (Provus) was the most
outspoken advocate of this approach, but several others, e.g., those of
CIPP and Suppes/Cronbach, supported the general approach. In truth,
however, this kind of decision support is only one type of decision support
(see 2 below), and decision support in general is only one of evaluation’s
roles (see 3 to 6 below).
2Later, as the importance of evaluation as a
consumer service
, typically
summative, was stressed, some theorists (myself amongst them) began
to talk as if this was the essential duty of evaluation. Consumers, by and
large, have no interest in whether the program or product designer’s
goals have been met, and only a secondary interest in improving the
program (i.e., formative evaluation), being mainly interested in whether
their own needs are met (a different definition of ‘success’). However, it
was incorrect to act as if the information needs of program funders and
managers were illegitimate, though it was important to stress that they
were often not the same as those of consumers.
3Then the pendulum swung full arc, and we had the Cronbach group
trying to convince us that there was no such thing in the real world as
summative evaluation; in reality, they said, evaluation was essentially
always formative. This may well have been true of their experiences, but
not of a reality containing
Consumer Reports
and the results of jury trials
and appeals.
4More recently, the idea of allowing those who are being evaluated to
participate in the evaluation has become increasingly popular, for ethical
or political reasons; this has been called
collaborative
or
participatory
or
empowerment evaluation
; transactional evaluation was a precursor. It has
been suggested by advocates of these positions that the old models are
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